


Fix You

by SparklingDarkAngel



Category: Doctor Who, Rick and Morty
Genre: Gen, Non-Sexual Age Regression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self Harm, Torture, Trauma, very dark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-04-19 21:20:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14245986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparklingDarkAngel/pseuds/SparklingDarkAngel
Summary: When Clara is kidnapped and taken into another dimension, Rick and Morty agree to help The Doctor find her. But the rescue doesn't happen for another two years, and when they finally find her, Clara is badly traumatized. It then becomes The Doctor's job to help her heal and return to the happy and optimistic girl she once was. Trigger warnings for just about everything.





	1. Taken

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt by DaDoodFromCheers on ffn.

The Doctor and Clara sat by the lake and watched the double sunset. “You were right, Doctor,” Clara commented. “It is beautiful.” But he was gazing at the soft smile on her face and the wonder in her eyes. The gentle breeze stirred her hair. She was everything he loved about humanity. 

Clara glanced over at him and laughed. “What is it, Doctor?”

“I’m just thinking about how lucky I am to have you,” he said with a smile. 

Clara was about to reply, but suddenly, the air was filled with loud static electricity. She stood up and whirled around. A bright red light filled the entire sky. “What’s going on?” she shouted. 

The Doctor pulled her close to him, fearing the worst. It looked like a portal from another dimension opening. He had only seen it done once before, and that had been a long time ago and a complete accident. 

Three men, heavily armored and equipped with high-tech guns stepped out. “Finally,” the man in the middle said. “We have found the one.”

The Doctor pushed Clara behind him and held out his arms. “It’s me you want,” he said. “Let her go.”

The man in the middle laughed. “We have no interest in you.” He walked forwards, and The Doctor held his screwdriver out in front of him helplessly. Their technology was way more advanced than anything he’d ever seen, and his sonic screwdriver was useless against it. 

“Don’t do this,” The Doctor begged. 

The strange man clocked him over the head, and he blacked out. 

XXX

Clara trembled in fear as the man roughly grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the portal. “No!” she screamed, trying to wrench her hand free. 

She was pushed through the portal and landed in a dark laboratory. Turning around, she attempted to fight her was back, but the men restrained her, and the portal closed behind them. “Doctor!” she screamed in terror. 

One of the men took his helmet off. Though he was human, his eyes held no humanity. “You can forget about him,” he said. “You’re my little pet now.”

“He’ll come for me,” Clara said defiantly. “And when he does, you’ll all be dead.”

The man laughed. “No one’s coming for you, princess,” he said cruelly. “Take off her clothes,” he ordered the other men.

“No!” Clara screamed as rough hands were suddenly all over her, ripping every piece of clothing she had away from her. Shreds of fabric fell to the floor. Cold air hit her naked body. 

“Take her to the back room and strap her down,” he ordered the other men. “I’d love to break her in.”

Clara struggled as she was manhandled down a dark hallway and into an even darker room. One of the men picked her up and slammed her down on a hard, cold, metal table. She groaned in pain. The men started grabbing at her wrists, and Clara flailed wildly. Still, the men managed to strap her wrists and ankles down. 

She started to sob as the men left her alone. While she still had faith that The Doctor would rescue her, she had never been more terrified in her life. 

The first man entered and approached her with a hungry look in his eye. “How are you today, my pet?” he cooed while groping her breasts. 

“Screw you,” Clara spat out between sobs. 

He slapped her hard across the face. “Is that any way to speak to your new master?”

“You’ll never be my master,” Clara replied. 

“We’ll see about that,” he replied venomously, unzipping his pants. 

Clara knew what was about to happen. She fought in vain against her restraints as the man began stroking her legs. “Go ahead, fight,” he encouraged. “That just makes it all the more fun.”

As he entered her, Clara screamed. 

XXX

The Doctor awoke to a pounding in his head. He stood up quickly, looking for the portal, but it was gone. “Clara!” he shouted, panicked. She was gone too. He sank to his knees. “No, no, no!” he screamed. 

Whoever had kidnapped Clara had come from another dimension, which was something the TARDIS couldn’t manage on her own. Which meant he would need help tracking her down, but he didn’t know where to begin. 

He made his way back inside the TARDIS and plopped down at the controls. His hands were shaking. “Help me,” he begged, his voice cracking. “Please, just help me save her.”

The TARDIS started to move, and The Doctor held his breath. He had no idea where he was going, or if his begging had even worked. When the TARDIS landed, The Doctor stood up and straightened his suit. He knew his face was a mess of tears, but there was nothing he could do about that. 

Cautiously, he stepped outside. Armed guards surrounded him and the TARDIS. He held his hands up, showing that he meant no harm but eyes the guards suspiciously. They all seemed to be clones of the same person. 

“Please,” The Doctor said, his voice shaking. “I need help.”

“Who are you?” 

The Doctor looked up to see where the voice had come from. There was a large table before him, and more of the clones were seated at it. “My name’s The Doctor,” he said. “I’m a Time Lord from Gallifrey, and my friend has been kidnapped by someone from another dimension.”

There was murmuring around the table. “What dimension are you from?” one of the clones demanded. 

“I don’t know,” the Doctor admitted. “I can’t travel between dimensions.”

One of the guards pulled out a scanner and scanned him. “He’s from C-137, sir,” he reported. 

“Then C-137 can deal with him.”

Suddenly, the wheels clicked. These weren’t clones. These were the same people from different dimensions. 

“Are you sure, sir?” one of the table members asked. “C-137 is defiant. He likely won’t cooperate.”

“C-137 is emotional,” another table member answered. “He won’t be able to resist.”

“Guards,” the first table member asked. “Bring C-137 here. And don’t forget his Morty.”


	2. Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is so dark and juicy that I couldn’t resist writing the second chapter. But I promise I’m returning to the top of my queue after this.

Rick had just finished eating his breakfast when the green portal opened up and three armed Ricks charged in. He rolled his eyes and groaned. “What do you want this time?” he demanded. 

“There’s a man who needs your help,” one of the other Ricks explained. 

Rick looked at them in shock. That wasn’t what the council normally wanted him for. “Tell him I’m not interested.”

“Rick!” Morty protested. 

“This isn’t a request,” one of the other Rick’s said, pointing his gun at Beth. 

“Okay, okay!” Rick exclaimed, holding his hands up. “I’ll come with you.”

He stood up, and Morty stood up too. He glared down at his grandson. “You’re not coming.”

“Yes he is,” one of the other Ricks ordered. 

Rick sighed. He put his hand on Morty’s shoulder and walked to join the other Ricks. They gestured for him to go through the portal. Morty hopped through first, and Rick grit his teeth as he followed him. That kid was going to get in trouble someday. 

On the other side of the portal, Rick and Morty stood in front of the council of Ricks. There was another man standing there that Rick didn’t recognize, but he looked worse for wear. “What’s this about?” Rick demanded. 

One of the council members cleared his throat. “C-137, this man is called The Doctor, and he’s a Time Lord from Gallifrey. He needs your help.”

The Doctor approached him and fell to his knees. It was so pathetic that it stirred up an emotion in Rick’s frozen heart. “I’m begging you,” The Doctor said. “My friend’s been kidnapped by someone from another dimension. I need your help finding her.”

“Alright,” Rick reluctantly agreed. 

Morty approached the man and put his arm around his shoulder. “We’ll find her,” he promised. “Do you know what dimension she was taken to?”

“No,” the Doctor replied hopelessly. “But if you hop in my spaceship, I can take you to the spot where she was taken. 

Rick eyed the blue phone box in the center of the room. “Well, that’s a start,” he said. “I should be able to track her from there. I suppose that’s your... uh... spaceship?”

“Yes,” The Doctor replied, quickly standing up. “Please come inside.”

It looked a little cramped, but Rick followed him inside. To his surprise, it was huge on the inside. “Wow,” Rick marveled. “I’d love to get my hands on some of this technology.”

“You help me get Clara back, and I’ll give you whatever you want,” The Doctor promised. 

“How is this possible,” Morty asked, staring wide-eyed in wonder. 

The Doctor pulled a lever, and the whole machine shook. Rick almost fell over, throwing his hands out to steady himself. “Hold on to something,” The Doctor advised. “Here we go.”

XXX

Clara screamed in agony as the whip hit her naked back one more time. “Say it,” the man demanded. 

She was chained to the wall from her wrists so high up that she had to stand on her toes. Blood was pouring freely from the lashes in her back, and tears of pain were streaming down her face. “I’m not saying it,” Clara said, through clenched teeth. 

The whip hit her back again, and Clara screamed. She bit her tongue, and her mouth filled with fresh blood. She spat it out. “Say it, and this will all be over,” the man said. 

“No it won’t!” Clara shouted through her tears. She knew better. The torture was never going to stop, at least not til The Doctor got here. She just had to hold out until then. 

The whip struck again. Clara’s whole body ached. She didn’t want to give her tormenter the satisfaction, but she needed a break. Her toes and her wrists hurt from the chains, and her back was on fire. “Fine,” Clara said tearfully. “I am a worthless piece of shit.”

Suddenly, the chains dropped, and Clara fell to the floor. She cried out weakly. Her throat was raw from screaming. Her torturer walked around her, knelt down, and grabbed her face. “That’s right you are,” he said smugly. “Now was that so hard, pet?”

“I’m not your pet,” Clara replied and spat blood in his face. 

He stood up again and brought his foot down hard on her damaged back. Clara screamed and curled up into herself, sobbing harder. “You’ve got a lot of fire,” he said, smiling sickeningly. “I could tell that from the moment I saw you. Hell, that’s what I like about you. I can’t wait to see how long it takes for you to break.”

“The Doctor will come for me,” Clara said, panting from the pain. “And when he does, you’ll wish you’d never laid a finger on me.”

Her tormenter smiled wider. “No one’s coming for you, princess,” he replied. “But the longer you hold on to that dream, the more fun it’ll be to break it.”

He left her alone, a bloody mess curled up on the floor. She sobbed quietly to herself, wondering how much longer it would be until he returned. “Doctor,” she whispered to herself. “Please hurry.”

XXX

“Hey sweetie. No, we didn’t get kidnapped again. We’re actually on a rescue mission. No, I don’t know how long it’ll take. Yes, I’ll take good care of Morty. Are you serious? Morty would never forgive me if I brought him home. You know how he is. Yes, I’ll call every night. I love you too, Beth.”

The Doctor anxiously watched Rick hang up the phone. The kid, Morty, was standing next to him. “Everything’s going to be okay,” he said. “My grandpa’s the best at interdimensional travel. If anyone can find Clara, it’s him.”

Rick pulled out a device that looked like some sort of scanner and began scanning the area. “Woah!” he exclaimed. “Whoever made this portal left a huge energy signature. That’s good news for us. We should be able to trace this bastard across dimensions.” 

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. “So you can find her?”

“Yeah, now all we need to do is set up your spaceship for interdimensional travel,” Rick answered. 

“And how are we gonna do that?” The Doctor asked. 

“Your machine-“

“-TARDIS-“

“Your TARDIS is very complex yet very simple at the same time,” Rick said. “It should be as easy as plugging my portal gun into the battery to get us to cross dimensions and my scanner into your GPS so we land in the right place.”

Rick walked back into the TARDIS to get started, and The Doctor followed him in. He sat down and buried his head in his hands. He still couldn’t believe his Clara was gone. Morty sat next to him and started rubbing his back. “We’re gonna find her,” he reassured him. 

The Doctor looked at him hopelessly. “What if she’s already dead?”

“Hey, you can’t think like that,” Morty told him. “She’s alive. You hold on to that and don’t give up.”

The Doctor nodded. He had to believe he would find her. He didn’t think he could handle it if he didn’t. 

“I’m finished,” Rick announced. “It looks like we’re headed to Gravity Falls, Oregon, A-77.”

The Doctor stood and walked to the console. “I can get us there,” he said. “Are you sure Clara’s there?”

Rick frowned and ran a hand through his hair. “This bastard’s been to a lot of different places,” he admitted. “There’s no telling where he is right now.”

Tears began to well up in The Doctor’s eyes. He knew the longer they took, the less their chances were of finding her alive. But they had to start somewhere. “Alright,” he agreed. “Let’s go.”


	3. Gravity Falls

The TARDIS landed, and Morty jumped up, ready to dart out when Rick grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. “Hold on, bud,” he said. “We have no idea what’s waiting out there.”

“He’s right,” the Doctor agreed, looking at a monitor. “We got a creepy, mysterious house. Hold on, it’s got a sign on it that says Mystery Shack.”

Rick rolled his eyes. “Probably a tourist trap,” he muttered. 

“Or it’s a front where they keep people they kidnap,” Morty snapped, pulling himself out of Rick’s grip, annoyed. “Come on already. If Clara’s in there, she needs us.”

He began heading for the door again when the Doctor interrupted him. “Wait,” he said. “We could be walking into danger. Let me go first.”

Morty sighed and stepped aside. Rick put a hand on his shoulder, gentler this time. “I really want you to hang back, Morty,” he said. 

He stared at his grandpa in disbelief. “We run head first into dangerous situations all the time!” he argued. “What makes this any different?”

“Because I don’t want you to be that sick bastard’s next victim!” Rick snapped, his voice oddly filled with emotion. 

Morty nodded, relenting to his grandpa. He followed closely behind Rick and the Doctor, holding one of Rick’s guns. If it came down to a fight, Morty was ready. 

The Doctor had been right. The large, brown house was extremely creepy, and if anything was a front for alien kidnapping, it had to be that. Morty tightened his grip on his gun and grit his teeth as the Doctor pushed open the door. 

The trio entered the building, and Morty took in all the odd trinkets around him. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck rise. Everything here felt alien. This had to be it. “Hi,” an old man’s voice greeted them from behind the counter. “Stan Pines here. How can I help you?”

The Doctor approached the man. With the way he stalked, Morty had to admit the Time Lord was intimidating. It was like watching a human storm. “Actually, we’re looking for someone,” he answered. “Does the name Clara mean anything to you?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know a Clara,” the man answered. 

“Well then, have you seen a girl? About ye high, brown hair and eyes?” the Doctor asked. 

Stan shook his head. “Nobody like that’s come through here recently.”

Morty was getting increasingly frustrated. He rushed forward and aimed his gun right at Stan’s head. The old man looked startled, backed up, and raised his hands up. “Enough bullshit!” Morty screamed. “Where are you keeping her?”

“Morty!” Rick shouted, annoyed. “Relax a little here. We don’t even know if this is our man.”

“He’s not,” the Doctor answered, looking around. “The men who took Clara came from a futuristic looking dimension. This is anything but.”

Dejected, Morty lowered his weapon. “Wait, another dimension?” Stan questioned. “I think I know what this is about. If you’ll just put the gun away, I’ll call my niece down. She claims to have seen a portal and spoke with men from another dimension.”

Morty slid the gun into his jeans. “Okay,” he agreed. 

Stan cleared his throat and called up the stairs, “Mabel! There’s a handsome young man here who wants to speak to you.”

Morty groaned internally and blushed, wondering what he had just gotten himself as he heard the pounding down the stairs. A brunette girl in a large pink sweater came bounding into the room. She smiled widely at Morty and held out her hand. “I’m Mabel,” she said. 

“Morty,” he replied, shaking the offered hand. “Your uncle told us you spoke with some men from another dimension. Can you tell us about them?”

Suddenly, Mabel’s eyes filled with fear as she backed up a few steps. “You- you’re not friends with them, are you?”

“No!” Morty quickly assured her. “Just the opposite. He’s kidnapped a friend of ours and we’re trying to get her back.”

“No,” Mabel muttered, her eyes widening. “Was the portal like a red lightning storm?”

“Yes,” the Doctor answered quickly. “Did you see it?”

Mabel nodded. “There were three men. Their leader said he was looking for the perfect person. He said maybe that would be me when I’m older.”

A ball of ice dropped into Morty’s stomach. “Perfect person?” he asked. “Perfect for what?”

Mabel bit at her lip nervously. “I don’t know,” she said. “But it can’t be anything good.”

“Did you see where they went?” the Doctor asked, his voice sounding desperate. 

The girl nodded. “I was frozen with fear. They walked off into the woods.”

“There’s a possibility they’re here,” Rick murmured. 

“If they are, then you need to let my brother and I help,” Mabel insisted. 

Rick shook his head. “It’s too dangerous,” he said. 

Mabel crossed her arms. “Dipper and I can take care of ourselves. Nobody knows Gravity Falls like we do. You need all the help you can get.”

“Okay, you’re in,” the Doctor agreed. “But we need a plan first.”

“We head back to the TARDIS,” Rick instructed. “If Clara’s here, I can whip up something to help us find her.”

“I’ll grab my brother,” Mabel said. “We’ll meet you there.”

As they exited the Mystery Shack, Morty began to feel a glimmer of hope that they would find the Doctor’s friend. 

XXX

Clara had no idea how long it had been since she had been kidnapped, but the constant rape, beatings, and belittlement were starting to have a serious effect on her. She could feel her sanity slipping as fear became all she knew. The only thing keeping her going was the hope that the Doctor would find her. 

She sat alone in the corner of her cell, shivering from the cold. A pool of blood gathered around her feet; the result of today’s rape. Her insides hurt, and she felt so dirty and violated. 

Even if the Doctor saved her, he would never be able to erase what they had already done to her. Fresh tears rolled out of her eyes as she thought about her friend. How long had it been since she had seen him? And would she ever see him again?

Footsteps echoed outside her cell, and she began to sob harder. She knew what that sound meant, and she had come to dread it. She curled up into herself, terrified. 

Her door opened, and Clara shrank back at the sight of her tormentor. “Come here, pet,” he instructed. 

Clara shook her head viciously as the rest of her body froze up in terror. Her tormentor stalked towards her, and she began to feel nauseous with fear. He roughly grabbed her arm and forced her to her feet, eliciting a yelp from Clara. She tried to struggle out of his grip, and her tormenter rewarded her with a hard punch to the face. She could feel blood dripping down her nose as she stopped fighting. 

“There’s a good pet,” her tormenter purred as she followed behind him, still trapped in his bruising grip. 

“What are you going to do to me?” Clara asked, her voice hoarse from all the screaming and lack of water. She was only given enough to barely survive. Already, she could feel herself loosing weight. 

Her tormenter looked at her and smiled sickly. “It’s time to start the tests,” he answered. 

Clara grew pale as they entered a room with a chair. Her tormenter threw her into it, and she didn’t have the energy to fight as he strapped her down. A collar was placed around her neck, and her tormenter dangled a remote in front of her. She didn’t need anyone to tell her she was wearing a shock collar. 

“Now, I need you to repeat after me,” her tormenter said. “The Doctor is not coming for me.”

Clara sighed. By now, she had learned it was best just to go along with his sick games. “The Doctor is not coming for me,” she repeated monotonously. Volts of electricity shot through her system, and she arched her back and screamed. “I did what you asked!” she protested. 

Her tormenter gave her a cruel smile. “I know,” he said. “But you have to mean it.”

Tears slid down Clara’s face as she wondered what it would take to convince him. “Now, let’s try again,” he instructed. 

Clara bit her lip to keep a sob from escaping. “The Doctor is not coming for me,” she said through her tears. Apparently, it wasn’t convincing enough because an even higher voltage of electricity shot through her. She screamed in pain like a banshee. 

“Again,” her tormenter instructed. 

“The Doctor is not coming for me!” she shouted through her tears. Again, searing pain shot through every particle of her body. 

“Again.”

“The Doctor-“ Clara’s voice broke as she sobbed. “The Doctor is not- he’s not coming for me.”

Her tormenter stepped forwards and removed the collar. “Good girl,” he purred as he stroked her face. She felt the straps come undone and her tormenter dragging her back to her cell, but she couldn’t see through the tears in her eyes. He had done it. He had broken the one thing that had been keeping her alive: her belief in the Doctor. 

XXX

A week later, and the crew had split up to search the last stretch of woods. Rick had taken Morty east, leaving the Doctor with Mabel and Dipper. Sure enough, Rick had been able to create a tracking device using the Doctor’s technology and a strand of Clara’s hair they had found. He held it in the palm of his hand, but no signal came from it. 

“Doctor?”

The Doctor picked up the walkie talkie that Stan had lended to them. “What is it, Rick?” he asked anxiously. “Did you find something?”

“No,” Rick said sadly. “We’ve searched every inch of these woods, and we’ve found nothing. I think it’s time we head to a new dimension.”

The Doctor bowed his head in defeat as tears welled up in his eyes. They had just wasted a week here while Clara was suffering who knows what. He desperately needed his friend back so that he could hold her and never let anything bad happen to her ever again. “Alright,” he agreed. “I’ll meet you back at the TARDIS.”

Mabel and Dipper were looking up at him in concern. “Thanks for helping,” the Doctor said, choking up. “But she’s not here.”

Dipper reached up and squeezed his hand. “I’m really sorry we couldn’t find your friend,” he said with tears in his own eyes. 

“It’s not your fault,” he whispered. 

Mabel hugged his waist really tight, also crying. “Don’t give up,” she said. “You’re gonna find her. I know it.”

The twins silently accompanied him on his way back to the TARDIS. Rick and Morty were already there, looking about as grim as the Doctor felt. Mabel and Dipper said their goodbyes, and the Doctor returned to his TARDIS. He hunched over the controls, trying not to sob. Rick stood at the scanner, looking for their next target. 

“Hill Valley, North Carolina, K-248,” Rick announced. 

“Alright,” the Doctor said, and he pulled down on the lever. The TARDIS began to move. He prayed to whatever god existed that this time, they find Clara.


	4. Hill Valley

The Doctor could barely contain himself as he rushed out the door, ignoring Rick’s warning to be careful. He found himself in the middle of a park. It was a pleasant day; a stark contrast to the darkness dwelling inside the Doctor’s mind. He spun around, taking in his surroundings, but there was no sign of Clara or her kidnapper. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. 

Rick and Morty followed him out of the TARDIS, Rick with his scanner in hand. He waved it around in the air for a bit. “The energy signal’s coming from over there,” he said, pointing to a bench. On it sat a brunette teenage boy and an old man in a white lab coat, who slightly resembled Rick. Without wasting any time, the Doctor rushed forwards, searching for any trace of Clara, her kidnappers, or a portal. 

As if sensing his distress, the old man stood up. “Can I help you find something?” he asked kindly. “My name’s Doc Brown, and I’m happy to help. 

The Doctor looked into his eyes suspiciously. Doc Brown wasn’t the right height to be Clara’s kidnapper, and he seemed genuine. “This might sound odd,” he began. “But have you seen a red portal?”

A strange look came across his face as he looked down at the teenager, who’s eyes were suddenly wide. “It’s ok, Marty,” he reassured the teen. “You can tell him.”

“I did,” the boy answered. “You’re looking for three men?”

“Yes,” the Doctor answered. “You saw them?”

Marty nodded. “They were here in this park. They said there was too much brain activity to find the perfect person and that they would come back at night.”

“The perfect person again,” Morty muttered to himself, suddenly by the Doctor’s side. “Doctor, do you know why Clara was the perfect person?”

The Doctor shook his head, wondering what that meant for Clara. He shuddered to think of what she must be going through. “He said there was too much brain activity?” he asked for clarification. 

“Yeah,” Marty answered. “Something about tangled brainwaves.”

“Brainwaves,” Morty repeated, looking up at Rick. “Could this be something like how my brainwaves cancel out yours?”

The Doctor gave the pair an odd look, not sure what they were talking about, but he listened anyways. “Maybe,” Rick wondered aloud. “Maybe he needed Clara’s brainwaves to cancel out his own.”

“It’s a possibility,” Morty agreed. “Probably the best case scenario.”

The Doctor’s hearts sped up. “Wait. You think there’s a chance she’s not being hurt, just being used as a brainshield?”

“Like Morty said, it’s a possibility,” Rick replied. “But until we find them, we won’t know for sure.”

“Did you see where they went? Maybe they possibly have a hideout here,” The Doctor said, turning his attention back to Doc Brown and Marty. 

The teenager stood up. “I followed them a ways. They had a bunker,” he replied. 

“Can you show us?” The Doctor asked. 

Marty nodded. “Of course, just follow me.”

“Marty,” Doc Brown called out, touching the teen’s arm. “Just be careful out there.”

The teenager nodded. “I will. But these people need my help.”

XXX

When Clara came to, she was strapped to a chair she hadn’t seen before. The room was completely white, and her kidnapper was hunched over a computer. “Amazing,” he muttered. Clara could feel electrodes on her head, and she made a move to scratch at them, but her hands were cuffed firmly to the arm of the chair. 

“What are you doing?” Clara snapped in pure annoyance. 

Her tormenter looked up and gave her a sick smile. “Ah, you’re awake, pet.” Clara glared at the nickname, but she didn’t have the energy to challenge it. Her brain was all fuzzy, and she was pretty sure she had been drugged before being brought here. “I guess now’s the time to tell you why I brought you here.” He moved to stand beside her and stroked her hair. Clara flinched, but the metal cuff around her neck held her in place. 

“Better late than never,” Clara grumbled. 

“You see, our government has been studying the effects of trauma on age regression for quite some time now,” her tormenter explained as if he hadn’t heard her. “But for ethical reasons, they have yet to test it.”

Clara gave a heavy sigh. “Let me guess. I’m the lab rat.”

Her kidnapper gave another one of his sick grins. “We’ve been searching for awhile now to find someone with the perfect brain waves to test on, but normal humans just can’t seem to produce the kind of quality brain waves that you have.”

“What makes me so special?” Clara asked out of genuine curiosity. 

“My guess is you’ve had an... unusual experience with time,” her tormenter supplied. 

Clara sighed again. “All that damn time traveling,” she muttered. 

Her kidnapper removed his hand from her hair and walked back to his computer. “Not that,” he hissed in annoyance. “Something bigger.”

As she thought about it, her eyes widened at her realization. “I jumped into the Doctor’s timeline and split myself into thousands of fragments,” she said. 

The other person’s eyes lit up. “So that’s what makes you unique,” he replied. 

Clara didn’t speak as her tormenter moved to uncuff her. If the Doctor wasn’t coming for her, now was the time to make her move. As soon as she was back on her feet and before her tormenter could grab her, she jabbed her elbow into his side as hard as she could and brought her heel up hard into his groin. The man cursed in pain, and Clara took off running. 

In all her time here, Clara had never actually seen a door, but she knew there had to be one. Without knowing where she was going she sprinted down the hallways and turned corner after corner. She was trying to get to the side opposite of where they had portalled in from. Her lungs and feet burned, and she began to pant heavily. 

As she turned the last corner, the hallway sloped up to what appeared to be a bunker door. She sprinted towards it. The door was almost within her grasp when a shot rang out and a sharp pain filled her side. Their was a click of the bullet landing on the floor as she fell. She grasped her side, and blood gushed out from her fingers. 

A dark laugh filled the air, and Clara turned her head to see one of her kidnapper’s goons with a gun pointed at her. “Nice try, my dear, but did you really think we wouldn’t be guarding the door?” he asked. 

He knelt beside her and injected something into her veins. Clara didn’t fight. She had already lost. But now, she knew where the door was, and she wouldn’t let go of the hope that she would escape. 

XXX

Rick held out his scanner in front of him as his crew followed behind Marty. The energy signal was faint but still there, confirming that Marty was leading them to the right place. However, he was worried that the energy signal was too small for Clara and her kidnappers to be around still. But for the Doctor’s sake, he hoped they were. 

The Doctor was starting to look visibly ill. His skin had paled, his hair was falling out, and he had dark bags under his eyes. Rick was worried for him. It was obvious that Morty was too with the way he looked at him. Rick really felt for him. If anyone had kidnapped Morty, he would burn Hell, Heaven, and Earth to get him back. 

“Do you think we’ll find her?” Morty asked in a small voice, looking up at Rick. 

With a pained look, Rick shook his head. Morty looked like he had been punched in the gut. He hated what this adventure was doing to his grandson and wanted to take him home, but he knew Morty. There was no way he was sitting this one out, not with another person’s life hanging in the balance. 

“We’re here,” Marty announced. He cleared away some branches, revealing the door to a fallout shelter. Nervously, the teen pushed open the creaky door. 

“Let me go first,” Rick said, pulling a flashlight out of his pocket. As he walked inside, he could feel the Doctor clinging closely behind him. He shone his light, revealing just a single, empty room.

Behind him, the Doctor feel to his knees. “She’s not here,” he whispered as tears started to fall down his cheeks. 

Morty rushed to his side and wrapped his arms around the Doctor. “Hey. We will find her. But right now, we need to get back to the TARDIS. Can you do that?”

Gently, Morty helped the Doctor to stand again and began to lead him back down the forest path. Marty looked up at Rick apologetically and said, “I’m sorry she wasn’t here.”

“Me too,” Rick replied. “But thank you for helping us.”

Marty nodded. “Of course,” he said. “I just wish there was more that I could do.”

“You did all you can,” Rick assured him. “The rest is up to me.”

When they arrive back at the park, the trio parted ways with Marty and filed back into the TARDIS. The Doctor collapsed into a seat and buried his head in his hands, muffling a sob. Morty stood next to him, rubbing his back. “Third time’s a charm, right?” Rick asked, but his voice held no humor in it. He made his was to the control panel and plugged the scanner in. 

After examining the screen for a few minutes, he announced, “It looks like our next destination is Quahog, Rhode Island, H-724.”

“Let’s go then,” the Doctor said. “The sooner we start looking, the sooner we can find Clara.”


	5. Quahog

Morty hadn’t slept in... well, he wasn’t sure how long. While Rick and the Doctor didn’t seem affected, Morty could definitely feel sleep tugging at his limbs. It was the reason he had searched for a bathroom on the TARDIS, so he could splash cold water on his face. Keep it together Morty, he thought to himself. Clara needed his help. 

A not so subtle tremor ran throughout the TARDIS, alerting Morty that they had landed. He ran out to join his grandpa and the Doctor, who were looking out the window and mumbling in concern. 

“What’s wrong?” Morty asked, pushing his way past the pair. In his tired mind, it didn’t occur to him that opening the door might be a bad idea, but he did, and he would have fallen about twenty feet to the ground if Rick hadn’t caught his arm and pulled him back into the safety of the TARDIS. 

“Haven’t I taught you to be more careful than that?” Rick snapped. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

Morty felt the blood rush to his face. “N-n-no,” he stammered. “I’m just- just a little tired.”

Rick looked him up and down with concern. “Maybe you should sit this one out and get some sleep. The Doctor and I can take care of this.”

“No,” Morty replied, shaking his head. “I want to help.”

“Hey!” a voice called from below. “What are you doing in my tree?”

Morty peered out the doorway and saw a middle-aged, overweight man staring up at him. Next to him was a white dog, standing on his back legs, which Morty assumed was normal for this dimension. “Hello!” the Doctor answered. “I’m looking for a friend of mine. Brown hair and eyes, about ye high.”

The man on the ground nodded and turned back to his house. “Meg! Someone’s here to see you!” he shouted. 

“N-no, that’s not-“ the Doctor protested, but the man appeared deaf. A young, brunette girl who couldn’t have been any older than eighteen came walking out of the house looking rather bored. 

“What do they want?” she asked, finishing with a yawn. 

Rick rolled his eyes and let out a large belch. “We’re not looking for your daughter,” he growled in annoyance. “We’re looking for a woman named Clara. She was kidnapped through a red portal. Seen anything like that?”

The man frowned. “No, nothing like that,” he replied. “But you should come inside. My wife Lois is really smart. She might know about it.”

“Great! Thanks!” the Doctor replied. “Let me just get my box down from the tree.” He closed the door and walked back over to the control panel. The TARDIS shuddered, almost sending Morty to the floor, but Rick caught him by the arm again and looked at him with concern. 

“You sure you’re feeling alright?” he asked. 

“I’m fine,” Morty replied, brushing his grandpa’s hand away in annoyance. 

The Doctor ran out of the TARDIS, and Morty quickly followed him, relieved to see that they were once again on the ground. “My name’s Peter by the way,” he said as he opened his door. “Peter Griffin.”

Morty entered the house and took in the sight of Peter’s family. There was Lois, sitting on the couch with a baby sitting next to a heavy blonde boy and Meg. They all appeared to be watching TV together. Lois looked up in concern. “Sweetie, who are these people?” she asked. 

“They’re looking for a friend of theirs who was kidnapped through a red portal. Know anything about that?” Peter asked. 

Suddenly, darts were flying everywhere. Morty pulled out his gun on instinct, but everyone in the family had passed out. “What the hell just happened, Rick?” Morty asked frantically. 

“Relax,” a voice said. Morty drew his gun and turned to the source, only to find... no. It couldn’t be. And yet, it was. 

The baby hopped of the couch and approached them. “The name’s Stewie,” he said. “And these incompetent fools are my family.”

“So why did you just knock them all out?” the Doctor asked. 

“My family remains blissfully ignorant about my special condition, and I would like to keep it that way,” Stewie explained. “But it just so happens that I may be able to help you.”

“You know about the portal?” the Doctor asked frantically. 

Stewie nodded. “And the three men who travel through it. Yeah. Follow me.”

Morty almost laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation as they followed Stewie outside, but then again he and Rick had been in weirder situations. Stewie walked to the edge of the driveway. “Right there,” he said, pointing. “They appeared in the street in the middle of the night. My family was sleeping while I was... well, never mind that.” Stewie gave a cold smirk which sent chills down Morty’s spine. 

Rick ran out into the street with his scanner. “The signal is off the charts,” he confirmed. 

“Did they happen to say anything about the perfect person?” the Doctor asked. 

Stewie nodded again. “They were searching for them,” he answered. “Said they’d give the town a sweep in the morning before shoving off. I followed them back to an abandoned warehouse and robbed them when they left.”

Morty raised his eyebrows at the baby who continued to surprise him. “I keep tabs on the place,” Stewie continued. “But they haven’t been back since.”

“So Clara’s not here,” the Doctor said, the devastation evident in his voice. 

“Probably not,” Stewie replied. “But I didn’t totally strip down the joint. You can look and see if there are any clues about where their main base might be. If it were me, I wouldn’t leave anything behind, but we can’t all be evil geniuses so who knows.” Stewie shrugged. “I’ll take you there,” he offered. 

Black spots started swarming around Morty’s vision as he fell to his knees, partially from exhaustion and partially from despair. Through his watery eyes, he could see Rick rushing towards him, kneeling in front of him. “M-morty!” he exclaimed frantically. “What’s wrong?”

“Wanna find Clara,” he mumbled before falling forwards and blacking out. 

XXX

Clara wasn’t sure how long she had been alone in her cell for, shivering from the cold. She would kill for a piece of clothing, but her captor was too barbaric for that. All she could do was run her hands up and down her arms to create friction. And then their was her ankles. 

Immediately after her escape attempt, her tormentor had taken a bat and beaten her ankles to a broken, bloody pulp. “So you can’t run again,” he had told her. At this point, she was numb to the throbbing pain and preferred to focus on the cold. Her side also bothered her from where she had been shot, but her captor had stitched that one up right away. Clara wished for some painkillers almost as much as she wished for some clothing. 

The door to her cell opened slowly, revealing Clara’s least favorite person. He gave a sickening grin as he eyed her ankles. “Why don’t you come play with me, my pet?”

“I can’t,” Clara said through grit teeth, sick of the mind games. 

Her tormentor raised an eyebrow. “Why not?” he asked as innocently as possible. 

Clara groaned and closed her eyes. She could feel a headache starting to form. “Because you fucking broke my ankles,” she growled. 

“Oh, that’s right,” her captor commented as he approached her. He knelt down and grabbed one of her bloody, twisted ankles, causing Clara to shriek. “You know, we could heal those in a heartbeat, but then you wouldn’t learn your lesson.” He tsked. “Remember this next time you think running away from me is a good idea.”

Clara said nothing, which seemed to enrage her tormentor. He roughly grabbed her waist and threw her over his shoulder. She didn’t protest, just wanting to get whatever this sick bastard had planned for her over with. 

Her stomach sank as she recognized the way he was taking to the backroom. Already, she could feel the cold, metal table underneath her and the restraints keeping her in place. 

She closed her eyes, suddenly feeling nauseous. What they did to her in that room made her feel sicker than everything else. She didn’t even want to see it happening anymore. 

As they entered the room, her eyes remained closed. She grunted as she was thrown down on the metal table, but she screamed when her tormentor put the restraints around her ankles. Clara could hear him laughing as he pulled them extra tight before moving to her wrists. “You hate this part the most, don’t you?” he asked. 

Clara didn’t give him the satisfaction of an answer, but as he ran his rough finger down her entrance, she shuddered, and she knew he got all the satisfaction he needed. She cried out as he entered her dry, just like he did every time. 

Suddenly, he thrusted in harder than ever before, hard enough to make Clara scream and tears run down her cheeks. “You’re not going to run away again, are you?” he asked. When she didn’t answer, he thrusted even harder, eliciting another scream. “Are you?” he demanded. 

“No,” Clara answered with a strangled cry. 

“Good,” her captor replied. 

Silent tears continued to fall down her face as she waited for him to finish. He spilled inside of her and removed himself. Clara gave a slight sigh of relief. “You’re so tight,” he purred. 

The restraints were off her, and she was once again thrown over her tormentor’s shoulder. She could feel the blood running down her legs, same as always. But instead of returning her to her cell, he brought her into the white room. 

Wordlessly, Clara let herself be strapped to the chair and the electrodes be put on her head. Her captor walked over to the computer and gave a gleeful cheer. “You’ve lost a year!” he exclaimed. 

Clara felt her stomach sink as her dream of escaping seemed to be drifting further away. If she was age regressing, how long did she have until escape became an impossibility?

XXX

After Morty had collapsed, Rick had scooped him up while the Doctor led him back into the TARDIS. He helped Rick locate a bedroom and watched the old man tuck Morty in. Once finished, they returned to Stewie, and he led them to the warehouse, which led them to their current predicament: paperwork. 

The Doctor and Rick had been sifting through various documents on no doubt illegal experiments tested on different subjects, all of them human, for what felt like hours. The Doctor felt sicker with every page he turned. Some of them even included gory pictures. Frustrated, he threw the stack down and exclaimed, “This is getting us nowhere!”

Rick’s breath hitched in his throat, and the Doctor turned to him. “What did you find?” he asked, anxiety filling his stomach. 

“It’s not a place,” Rick responded. “But I think I found out what they need a perfect person for.”

He handed the Doctor the paper he was looking at. The Doctor took it and scanned its contents. He read about an experiment on how trauma affects age regression and how they had yet to test it because they hadn’t found an ideal subject. His heart dropped into his stomach as he paled. He leaped to his feet. “We need to find her, now,” he said, his voice holding a new edge. 

Rick nodded in agreement, standing as well. “You guys go ahead,” Stewie said. “I’m gonna review their results for a little while longer.”

There was something seriously wrong with that kid, but the Doctor pushed it into the back of his mind. He sprinted off with Rick right behind him, heading for the TARDIS. 

Luckily, it wasn’t that far away, and they had reached his familiar ship within a few minutes. The Doctor burst in like a madman, but there was nothing he could do until Rick pulled up the new coordinates. As soon as they were up, the Doctor’s hands were on the controls. Rick’s eyes widened as he muttered, “Oh, that’s not good.”

“What is it?” the Doctor demanded frantically. 

Rick took a hard swallow and faced the Doctor. “Our next destination is a place simply known as the Nightmare Realm,” he explained. “And if you think it sounds bad, it’s worse. It’s an unstable void between the dimensions of the multiverse, filled with monstrous creatures and interdimensional criminals. Also, the whole place is a scientific anomaly. It is a place of complete entropy. The laws of physics known throughout the multiverse don’t apply there.”

The Doctor nodded, considering Rick’s words. It was definitely somewhere he would never consider going just for fun, but it sounded like exactly the place Clara’s kidnapper could be hiding. “Alright,” he agreed. “I’ll take us there.”


	6. The Nightmare Realm & Townsville

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my dear readers. If you read the original ending to the last chapter and my now deleted author’s note, you’re probably as confused as I am. Apparently DDFC still wants this crossover, so I wrote it back in. I’m gonna blame it on the fact that they don’t have an ffn account which makes communication more than a little difficult. That’s why I like here better (but don’t tell the others I said that). Anyways, enjoy.

Rick had lost track of how long he had been sitting in the doorway of the TARDIS, lost in a see of reds, yellows, and purples. The scanner sat in his hand, tracking the traces of Clara’s kidnapper’s portal. The only problem was this guys had been here a lot. There were traces of him everywhere it seemed. The crew had already searched what felt like hundreds of smelly asteroids, and they were closing in on another one. “Take us down lower,” Rick instructed, and the Doctor began to steer them towards the asteroid. 

None of them had any idea how long they had been in the Nightmare Realm for. Rick still called Beth every time before he went to sleep, but in this place there was no telling how long he had been awake for. He considered asking Beth what the date was back home, but the truth was he was too scared to know. Instead, he let Beth talk about how worried she was about them and ask if Morty would be back in time to start school in the fall. Rick didn’t know, but he could only hope they would be done by then. The longer it took to find Clara, the less likely she was to still be alive when they found her. 

He brought his legs back into the TARDIS and shut the door now that the Doctor had a fixed destination. The Time Lord’s skin had grown ashen, and the shadows were prominent under his haunted eyes. His face had turned sallow and bony. Rick didn’t think he had seen the Doctor eat the entire time they’d been out, even though the TARDIS had a well-stocked kitchen. 

His grandson had caught up on the sleep he’d been missing, but he didn’t look any better. Morty looked worse each day. Rick could hardly bear the look of hopelessness in his eyes, but it didn’t surprise the old man. He already knew Morty had a bleeding heart. Now it was becoming painfully obvious just how much his heart could hurt. 

The TARDIS landed with a rough thump. Rick had to brace himself against the door to keep from falling over, and Morty grabbed on to his lab coat. Rick forced himself to look down at Morty. The boy’s eyes were filled with a painful sort of anxiety; the sort where you were starting to get your hopes up yet were too afraid to, so you crush the feeling before the multiverse can do it for you. 

Rick looked down at the scanner, unsure if he should feel relief or dread at what it showed. Somewhere in his stormy mind, he felt both. “This is it,” Rick announced. “This is the last place here that our kidnapper has been to.”

“So if she’s not here, we’ve wasted who-knows-how-long for nothing,” the Doctor muttered hopelessly. 

“It’s not for nothing,” Morty argued. “Every step we take is another step closer to Clara. We just have to keep on walking.”

“I’d rather run,” the Doctor remarked dryly. 

Before his two companions could get into a debate over metaphors, Rick pushed the door open and stepped onto the rocky surface of the asteroid. The asteroids themselves weren’t too hard to search once found. They were small by nature and very porous, making it easier for the Doctor to use his sonic screwdriver to find any abnormalities. Though nothing in this place was normal, the Doctor could at least tell wether or not there was an underground base or any life forms. 

Morty stepped out next to Rick. The fact that he no longer blanched at the smell was a sad telling of just how long they had been searching this horrible place. “I hope she’s here,” Morty said. “But either way, I’ll be happy to leave.”

As Rick was nodding his head in agreement, the Doctor had stepped outside and was scanning every inch of the surface with his sonic waves, searching. The look on his face told Rick all he needed to know. “She’s not here,” the Doctor said in defeat. 

“We shouldn’t waste any time feeling defeated,” Rick said quickly. “Like Morty said, it’s time to take the next step.”

The Doctor nodded and wordlessly stepped past him and into the TARDIS. Rick followed him, not wanting to see the look of devastation he knew was on Morty’s face. Instead, he sat down and began looking for a new destination. He squinted at the screen, trying to figure out why the place’s name seemed so familiar even though he was sure he’d never been there before. “J-89, Townsville,” he read aloud. “It shows it here on a small island near Japan that doesn’t exist in our dimension. 

“Hey isn’t that-“

“Not now, Morty,” Rick cut the teenager off. He continued to wrack his brain as the Doctor sat down at the controls. The TARDIS groaned in her familiar way, preparing to “leap” as Rick called it, when the crew heard a large crashing sounds as the TARDIS violently shook back and forth. Rick was thrown from his seat, and his head hit the hard floor with a loud thump. “What the fuck is going on, Doctor?” he shouted. 

“We’re under attack!” the Doctor yelled back frantically. The Nightmare Realm- she doesn’t want us to leave!”

Rick tried to stand, but the TARDIS quaked again, rolling him towards the door. “Fuck that!” he heard Morty shout. His grandson ran at the controls and grabbed the panel for balance. He pushed down harder on the lever the Doctor had been using before being thrown to the floor. The TARDIS groaned even louder, and the shaking became stronger. Rick rolled up into himself to try to protect his head. 

There was a final shudder before everything went still and dark. 

XXX

Eventually, her kidnapper healed her ankles. It had only taken a second with their medicine, and Clara couldn’t help but wonder about all the good they could be doing with it. But instead, they were using it to prepare their victim to be tortured again. In her time here, Clara had seen the ugliest of humanity. Her life with the Doctor felt like it was a thousand years ago. This was all she knew now. 

Now that she was better, Clara began planning her escape. And if she failed, it wasn’t as if they could come up with a punishment that was any worse than what she went through every day. She was already in hell. 

Though she never saw the sun, Clara was beginning to develop a sense of day and night. Her captors were only human after all. Clara, however, barely slept. The only thing in her cold, concrete cell was a bucket. There was no mattress to keep her off the hard floor. For long periods of time, Clara would be left alone in her cell while her captors slept. By mentally keeping track of her daily, torturous routine, she began to be able to anticipate those times. 

The first night after Clara’s ankles had been healed, she paced every inch of the bloodstained floor, searching for any anomaly that could give her an advantage. She didn’t expect to find anything, but she was still disappointed when her search led to nowhere. 

She checked the door next. From what she could tell, it was made of heavy steel, and the lock was only accessible from the outside. There was no busting out in her situation, so she had to get herself moved to a different room. She wasn’t sure yet how, but she knew from her escape attempt that this facility wasn’t particularly large. 

The idea came to her one night. If she could make herself sick, then surely her captors would do anything to make sure their precious little test subject stayed in perfect testing condition. The problem was nothing in her cell to make her sick. The cold was uncomfortable, but it wasn’t enough. She needed to grow a toxin; something that would make this room uninhabitable. 

But how? The only thing in her cell was that bucket... but when Clara thought about it, that wasn’t exactly true. She had the contents of the bucket and the fine layer of dust coating the floor. 

Clara approached her bucket which was emptied every morning. The smell of her own urine and feces had been off-putting at first, but she was used to it by now. She curled her fingers around the rim and gently tilted it towards the wall. A small stream of urine spilled over; enough to saturate the floor and wall, but not enough to cause suspicion. 

She returned to the opposite side of the room and sat down against the wall. Figuring a bit of sleep wouldn’t hurt, she crossed her arms and leaned her head back. Her plan would take time to put into action. For now, she just had to be patient. 

XXX

As the adrenaline wore off, Morty began to tremble. “Did we make it out?” he asked softly. 

“Yes,” the Doctor replied, picking himself up from the floor. “Good job, Morty.”

Morty smiled then realized it was the first time he had done so in awhile. He wondered how he had so quickly became obsessed with this woman he knew nothing about and had never even met. But he could see the Doctor’s pain, and it made Morty think about if he were in Clara’s position. If he was kidnapped and Rick couldn’t get to him alone, he would be forever grateful to whoever helped Rick. But it was more than that. It was as if he could feel Clara screaming for help. 

“But we’ve lost power,” the Doctor continued. “And as much as I want to be out there looking for Clara, we need to hurry.”

“Stay here and fix the TARDIS,” Rick instructed, also picking himself off of the floor. “Morty and I will take the scanner and go look for her.”

The Doctor nodded solemnly. “I’ve been with you for awhile now,” he replied. Too long, Morty wanted to say, but he didn’t. “I trust you.”

Rick nodded back and grabbed the scanner from the controls. Morty quickly followed Rick outside. During the commotion he had forgotten where they were, but as he stepped out into the park and fresh air, it hit him. Townsville. J-89. And Rick didn’t even remember. “R-Rick, there’s something you need to know,” Morty said. 

“What, Morty?” Rick asked in annoyance as he fiddled with the scanner. 

Before Morty could answer, blue light streaked across his vision, and Rick was knocked backwards into the ground. A young girl with blonde ponytails sat on his chest, holding him down with surprising strength. “We told you never to come back here!” she shouted. 

“Who the fuck are you?” Rick grumbled. 

Morty ran towards them. “Bubbles!” he exclaimed. “He doesn’t remember! Just let me explain.”

Two other girls landed beside Rick, and Morty instantly recognized them; Blossom, the redhead, and Buttercup, the brunette. “This explanation better be good,” Buttercup informed him with a death glare. 

“When we were last here, Rick was drunk,” Morty began. 

Rick groaned. “God, Morty, what did I do?” he asked. 

“You tried to throw a neutrino bomb into the volcano!” Morty exclaimed in frustration. “And I had to disable it while these three restrained you!”

“That’s right,” came a voice from behind Morty, causing him to jump. “Though Townsville is used to villains like you.”

Rick tried to sit up, but Bubbles kept him pinned down. “I remember you!” he exclaimed. “Professor Utonium,” he added with disgust. “Now I remember the three of you!” Rick turned his attention to the three girls. “The little chemical x brats that Professor Ding Dong thought were better than my portal gun.”

“Have you been here before?” Morty asked. He didn’t remember anything about Professor Utonium, but he did remember a drunken rant about chemical x. 

The old man nodded. “Before the drunk incident, yes,” he answered. “Though I was also drunk that time too. Just not drunk enough to deal with this idiot-“

“That’s enough!” Blossom shouted. “Just tell us why you’re here!”

Rick opened his mouth to talk, but Morty quickly interjected. “Our friend Clara’s been kidnapped,” he said. All eyes turned to him, anger melting into concern. “We’ve been tracking her kidnapper through dimensions, and we know he’s been here.”

Bubbles climbed off of Rick, who grumbled and stood. “What does he look like?” she asked. 

“All we know is they’re human,” Rick answered. “They travel through a red portal. Seen anything like that?”

Blossom nodded. “We have,” she answered. “But we were looking for some kind of alien, not another human.”

“The professor’s lab was robbed the same day!” Buttercup remembered. “They took his stock of chemical x.”

Morty and Rick made contact. If Clara’s kidnapper had the same substance that had given the sisters their abilities, that increased the stakes. “There’s no hideout here,” Rick deduced. “This was just a robbery. That’s why the signal’s so weak.”

Tears began to prickle at Morty’s eyes, but he wiped them away before Rick could see. “So Clara’s not here, but we’re stranded here the TARDIS is fixed,” he sighed. 

“I’m afraid so,” Rick replied with a frown. 

The Nightmare Realm had damaged the TARDIS more than the Doctor had thought. It ended up taking him about a week to repair her. During that time, Morty had been training with the three young girls, helping them fight Townsville’s villains. Meanwhile, Rick stayed in the TARDIS, trying to upgrade his guns. 

As soon as the TARDIS lights came back on, Rick rushed to plug the scanner in and find their next destination. “Springfield, X-251,” he announced. “I gotta warn you, this one is weird.”

“I can handle weird,” the Doctor replied, pushing the lever. The TARDIS shook again as she began the leap.


	7. Author’s Note

Hello my dear readers. I know it’s been awhile since I’ve touched this fic. I’m going to be completely honest with you. I still love the prompt and the idea behind this fic, but I don’t like what I’ve written. I apologize, but that’s just where I’m at right now, and I don’t see how I can continue at this rate. 

So if you lovely people are willing to bear with me, I would like a complete start over of this prompt. I have fresh ideas that require a fresh start. 

I apologize to everyone, but I just can’t force it. I hope you will join me at Fix You (Reimagined).


End file.
